Hello everyone,
 
Last October, while traveling accross the country, Jitterbug got VERY sick.
As you may remember I got a very ego centric vet in Houston who told me to
take my ferret home (immediately after a surgery to remove a blockage that
wasn't there) since he claimed I didn't trust his judgement.  (All I had
done was to suggest it might be ECE and let him know how some shelter people
told me THEY were treating it - they had a very impressive track record).
 
Meanwhile Jitterbug was just out of this unneccessary sugery and we still
had no idea what it was and she was at death's door.  After begging him to
keep her there (I thought she would die if she were moved) he eventually
decided she had heliobacter.  I still think it was probably ECE.  She was
treated with amoxycillian and I had to hand feed her duck soup and keep the
pedialyte coming for weeks.  She appeared to get better which leads me to
now, four months later.
 
Jitterbug appeared to me to have a slightly swollen vulva and a very
irritated anus (traces of blood on her butt).  At first I thought it was an
irritation to her new litter so I went back to the pine pellets (why on
earth did I ever leave them) and waited it out.  After a week she got diarea
which got steadily worse for the next few days.  I am currently unemployed
which is why I waited so long to take her to the vet.  When it was clear she
wasn't getting better I took her to a new vet in CA.  $75 of tests later
they didn't know what she had, but suggested putting her on a broad spectrum
antibiotic (flagyl (sp?)) before doing the next test which would be $100
more and would tell me specifically what kind of bacteria she had, but would
not alter treatment (according to the vet).  At this point I asked about the
possibility of ECE since I understand it can reoccur.  The vet had never
heard of ECE.  I wondered if I got the letters wrong so I said the green
slime disease, no response.
 
Adrenal was brought up as a possibility (by me) she said her vulva was not
swollen.  It looked bigger to me than usual, but she said it gets MUCH
bigger for adrenal.  (this ferret is definetly spayed, I've had her for 2
years and she is 3).  Also there did not appear to be hair loss.  I gave her
the flagl for seven days, every 12 hours.  She appeared to get better.  Then
as soon as she was off it, her poops started looking a little looser and
lighter again.  Am I being paranoid (I am examining her poop quite closely
now), or should I bring her back into the vet?
 
Does anyone have good hard facts about ECE that I can share with this vet?
Should I not go to her again because she didn't know what it was?  Does
ANYONE know a great vet in LA?  HELP!
 
Sincerely,
Katlin
[Posted in FML issue 1867]